Very good post Beach. Hampi is really a magic site. I spent there three days
last December and probably was not ennough to see all the places around. The ambiance is special and you feel really well and relaxed. As is a huge place you never feel uncomfortable beacause the people.

If you choose to stay in Hospet (we did) Malligi Hotel is the best option, far better( in stars) than the guest houses in Hampi. They have different kind of rooms at different prices. Good restaurant and swimming pool, although they are always making repairs and is quite noisy during the day. Hospet is probably the noisest village in India and the trafic inside the town is absolutely disconcerting. You should buy in Malligi hotel book shop the book about Hampi from John M Fritz and George Michell.

Have a drink or meal at Mango Tree Restaurant in front of Tungabadra river, is a nice place to rest after the long walks, and the food is not bad.

Before the sunset climb to Matanga Hill at the end of Main Bazaar ( is just a 15 min walk) and enjoy the views. Another way to see the monuments is in the night when the lights give them a magic image.

Well some more are added….. And many more to come….time is the only trouble.

I’ll later attach tiny photos for EVERYTHING I’m explaining here, may be I need a bit more time to do all the trimming, naming, making it less than 50K etc to make it postable.

My worry is by that by that time my memory quota may run out. If that is the case hope mike would grand me some additional ‘honorary’ quota to post the photos

Also once the location wise ‘explanation’ is completed, I would rearrange to keep the locations in logical order to visit. (I’ll be numbering the sites and make some sample itinerary to offer optimum paths to cover the site).

Also I may do some more editing to the details/spelling/grammar as I’ m notorious for that.

Any way once the ‘work’ is completed I’ll declare…(still searching for the chief guest to declare the thread is officially open (aka the Cannes style )…aish, sharuk etc are in the list )